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Sunday, May 26, 2013

The Youngest Angel

First and foremost, I would like to take a minute to thank
all those folks who have given the ultimate sacrifice to allow me the freedoms
I take for granted.Happy Memorial
Day!You are not forgotten…..

Hey everybody.My
name is Penny Estelle and I am a grandmother of seven wonderful kids from
thirteen to two.All of them are
different as night and day with their own little quirks and endearing
qualities.Let me just throw in here
that with three brats of my own, two stepsons, and the seven grand kiddies,
this is one of the reasons I write for the middle grades/tweens.All one has to do is look and listen and you
find material in every corner!

I would like to talk just about my youngest angel,
Caitlyn.She just turned two and she
was born with Downs Syndrome.My son
and daughter-in-law knew before she came into this world of her condition and decided
it didn’t make one bit of difference.Sweet Caity had to have heart surgery at six months.She was in the hospital for twenty-one days,
and what a sucky twenty-one days those were.Her mother, who is the picture of a cool head, never left her side and
my son, who has never been know for his calm ways, was freaking out every
day!I thank God every day she came
through the surgery great!

In my mind, she is about a year behind a normal 2 year
old.She is crawling and jabbers a lot,
but besides mama and dada, words haven’t started.The doctor wanted her legs to get stronger, so for her birthday I
was trying to figure out some sort of contraption that would help strengthen
her legs.My hubby saw some specialized
PVC pipe fittings for the making of a chicken coop, of all things, but he built
her, what her mom refers to as her ballet bar, and she is standing and getting
stronger everyday.Thank goodness they
put a mirror in front of it cause she either thinks she is one hot mama or she
likes her new friend.The jabbering
doesn’t stop!

Caity's ballet bar

* * * *

I will be forever grateful for MuseItUp for taking a chance
on my series, the Wickware Sagas. Billy
Cooper’s Awesome Nightmare is Book 1, and Ride of a Lifetime, Book 2, will
be out June 7.

A little insight on The Wickware Sagas

Miss Wickware is a 7/8 grade history teacher at Langdon
Middle School.Story on the street is
real bazaar things happen in this classroom and fingers point to Miss Wickware,
herself, as the prime suspect.Is it
witchcraft?Is it magic?Is she from another planet?

Most of her students think of her a nice old lady,
passionate about history.They say it’s
just a bunch of bunk!But there are
some students who get nervous when the subject comes up.They look everywhere but straight
ahead.They simply aren’t talking!

Billy Cooper's Awesome Nightmare

It’s Friday Afternoon.Billy Cooper’s frustration grows minute, by agonizing, snail moving
minute, as his last class of the day drags on.

The last twenty minutes of class, old lady Wickware, his
seventh grade history teacher, throws a wrench in his weekend plans.Everybody in his class has to draw a name
out of box and do an oral book report on the person or event drawn.

Billy has a full weekend planned that includes baseball
practice and the new Matt Damon movie, but he isn’t too concerned.Billy figures he will take ten minutes and
get the scoop on this William Tell character, whoever that is, and that, as
they say, will be that!But when Billy
finds himself outside of William Tell’s house, his attitude takes a whole different
turn.

Jim Abernathy is the new kid at Langdon Middle School - and
a bully.With the death of his mother
and his father having to work two jobs, Jim has been on his own for the last
year.A new job in Phoenix is just what
Jim and his dad need for a new start.

His bullying is tested when he enters Miss Wickware’s
history class.The class must draw
historical subjects out of a box and present oral reports on whom or what they
have drawn. Jim draws Sybil Ludington.“Great, another seamstress!”

Jim’s ideas about women in history take a whole new turn
when he walks out of class and into the Eighteenth Century and the life of
Sybil Ludington.

10 comments:

First off, your very special granddaughter is a love. I absolutely adore Down's Syndrome children. They have such a fresh and wonderful take on our world.

Second, Sybil Luddington is a favorite subject of mine, and one a friend, Donna Alice Patton, wrote about in an article for I believe History Magazine. Great way to show how powerful women were in history, Penny!

Thanks guys for stopping by and leaving such kind remarks. Kathi, I just happened along Sybil's name when I was doing some research. I had never heard of her and I thought, she would be a perfect character for the Wickware Sagas!

Pen,you have such an amazing family and I am so fortunate to know them! I just introduced my friends son to your books and it was so cool to watch him read it and then come running out to tell us about it. I couldn't be a prouder friend. Way to go Jim, that ballet bar for Caity is awesome!

What a little beauty and the bars are a fantastic tool for Caity to become more mobile. Your books sound intriguing, Penny. I'm a million light years past my childhood, but that doesn't mean I have to deprive myself of a fun book.